


After the Ball - Chapter 2

by Gwynne



Series: After the Ball [1]
Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-11-11
Updated: 2010-11-11
Packaged: 2017-10-13 04:19:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/132755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gwynne/pseuds/Gwynne





	After the Ball - Chapter 2

"Her?"

"Too thin."

"That one?"

"Too bouncy."

"Over there, the one in blue."

"Too young."

Miles leaned back in his chair and glared at his cousin, "Ivan, we were in a darkened cupboard with her for a few minutes. Can you be really sure about this?"

Ivan smirked and sipped his coffee – it's not easy to do both at the same time, but he managed it with flair. "Miles, she was a woman. I don't need minutes – I'd have her memorised in seconds."

"Ok, so what did you memorise?"

Ivan grinned to himself, that snarky tone meant that Miles was getting twitchy. Sitting in a café all day watching girls walk by was Ivan's idea of heaven, but for Miles the enforced lack of action was getting to him. "Well, she was a shade under average height, for a woman. Good figure, very good figure, nice rounded hips and breasts with a slender waist, yes a very good figure – "

"I grant you the figure. Definitely fine. What else?"

Ivan considered, "Mid twenties. Well educated. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Vor."

"Probably."

"She talked about doing her Vor duty."

Miles straightened up again, "Could have been a red herring?"

"Not the way she said it."

"No, probably not. Ok then, we're looking for a Vor maiden. Or a young wife."

Ivan shook his head, "No. Not a wife. Wives have a different… aura."

Miles glared at him, "You know, if you took even a fraction of the effort and attention you put into your dealings with women and put it into your career you'd be…"

"…very busy."

"Idiot."

They sipped coffee for a while in silence. Ivan scanned a few more likely prospects and shook his head. This had been a lot easier the last few days, when he did his girl-surveying accompanied only by Impsec agents. Unfortunately today Miles had come along to help. And Miles wasn't good at waiting. Ivan wondered what he'd been like on long stakeouts – he probably gave those jobs to other Dendarii. Admirals get the fun shooty bits.

Miles sighed, "We'll try nearer the university tomorrow. There's still plenty more places you haven't checked yet."

Ivan frowned, "I just don't understand it. I didn't recognise her."

"The mask probably had something to do with that."

"No, I mean – she's a Vor maiden. In the capital. I should have seen her before. Recognised her from somewhere. All the Vor buds are paraded at the Imperial receptions, balls, and every other shindig poor Gregor has to tolerate. And then there's all the private parties and balls. Vor buds are always on show – I've seen them all. She's in her mid twenties, I'd guess – she has to have been around for a few years. Why didn't I recognise her?"

"You know EVERY Vor maiden on sight?"

"Yes."

The simple answer made Miles pause for a moment. In this, alone, Ivan was supremely confident. He frowned, "So why would a Vor bud be in Vorbarr Sultana and not on the social scene? Attendance at Imperial events, at least Midsummer, Winterfair and the Emperor's Birthday, are practically compulsory for Vor in the capital. Even if she's not High Vor she should have been at SOMETHING in the last few years."

"She's high Vor."

This time Miles snorted in exasperation, "Ivan, how can you possibly know that?"

"Educated accent, attitude, the way she moved, refinement, confidence… just … everything. I just know."

And he did, too. That was the frustrating thing about Ivan, his idiocy amounted to a kind of genius in very specific situations. Miles fiddled with his coffee cup, "So, we have a mystery. A High Vor bud in Vorbarr Sultana who doesn't mix with other High Vor. Despite it being expected to the point of almost being an order."

"Maybe she's not from around here."

"She's been around here long enough to do… what? Some kind of historical research, she said? What research? Yes, we're definitely trying the university tomorrow. There's plenty of young women there."

Ivan sighed happily. This was the best job ever.

The next day didn't start well. Miles turned up. Ivan resigned himself to another day of watching Miles fidget, fiddle and fail to sit still. He scanned the scene around him as he sipped his first coffee of the day. They were in the main University square, at a small café with tables scattered under some very decorative trees. Miles had unerringly chosen the table that gave the best view while being partially screened from casual gazes. He leaned back, then forward again, then rattled his cup and twisted around in his chair. Ivan sighed silently, it was going to be a long day.

Miles surveyed the passing students, there was a general air of rumplement about them. He was, as usual, in his crisp grey Auditor's outfit. He frowned at Ivan, "Dress greens? You couldn't find civvies?"

Ivan nodded at his cousin's well-cut Auditorial suit, "Dendarii grey?"

The snarled at each other for a moment in perfect family harmony.

Ivan nodded at the square, "There's enough uniforms out there, this doesn't set me apart." Which was true, there were always young officers doing their degrees in engineering, medicine, higher mathematics… not many in art or music, of course. But enough over all that a green uniform wasn't unusual. He glared at Miles, "You stand out more than I do. Most of the clothes out there haven't been crisp and pressed in… like… forever."

Miles glared right back, "I'd stand out anyway."

"True, they seem strangely lacking in the hunchbacked dwarf department."

"On the other hand, Vor blockheads are well represented."

They nodded at each other, happily engaged in their cousinly warfare. Suddenly Ivan froze, looking remarkably like a gun dog on point. Miles looked around, "Where?"

"There."

"Where?" Miles was jiggling frantically in his seat, "I can't see… where? Which one?"

"That one." Ivan pointed at a table at the far end of the café.

Miles craned his neck to see without seeming to look, "What… where… who?"

There was a group taking over the far table, four women and two men. They were all dressed in the loosely casual clothes favoured by students and young academics, all four women were in Komarran-style pants and jackets, with figure-hugging blouses underneath, made popular by the new Empress. One man had loose pants and a back-country-style overshirt, the other was in Vorbarra street fashions a couple of years out of date. They were busy with tea and coffee cups, and a pile of flimsys being passed around. Two of them had portable comsets set up on the table.

Miles hissed in frustration and bounced in his chair as he surveyed the women, "Which one? They're all… how can you tell? Which is she?"

Ivan was relaxed, watching his prey, "Dark blue jacket and pants, cream top. Has her back half to us."

"You're sure?"

"Of course."

Now that action was close, Miles settled down with iron-clad calm.

Ivan stretched languidly and finished his coffee, "So, now what? We pounce? I like pouncing."

"We watch, and wait. Then pounce. Then a quick trip to Impsec and a nice dose of fast-penta."

"And then… what?" Ivan frowned, "I mean… I know she broke a few rules, but she did probably save Gregor's life, too. And Laisa's as well." Ivan shuddered at the thought of losing both of them so soon after marriage, they hadn't even had time to start a sprog in a replicator yet. "What's Impsec doing about that stuff in the tunnel?"

Miles smiled like a happy shark, "They checked the vids she gave us, then did DNA scans of everything in the tunnel. It was even-money bets on Komarran terrorists or Barrayaran isolationists, they all hated Gregor's marriage to a Komarran. But, strangely, it was neither."

"Then who? Cetagandans?"

They froze for a moment as two of the women left the group, then relaxed again.

Miles shook his head, "Not Cetas. Not even Jacksonians, which was my bet. And it wasn't, after all, a plot against Gregor." Miles paused, with an irritating grin, watching as Ivan tried to control his frustration.

Finally Ivan broke, "Ok, give, Lord Auditor Coz. Who was it?"

Miles paused, enjoying the moment, "Art thieves."

"What?"

"Common thieves, no politics involved. There's plenty of rooms in the Residence, whole corridors of them, that are rarely used. They planned to avoid the security patrols and armsmen, and clear out all kinds of rare art treasures from the areas that aren't in current use. It could have been weeks or even months before anyone realised, and by then they'd be safely off-planet and out of the Empire."

"So she didn't save the emperor after all."

"Well, Impsec always get twitchy at the thought of anyone breaking and entering at the Residence. And this was a pretty nasty gang – they had balls, to plan a grab under the Emperor's nose. They're still being questioned, it's possible that there's more to it than we know so far, and there's a few more of them who've slipped the net for the moment. Impsec is chasing them down as fast as they can. They have a lot more questions to answer, it'll take days to make sure there's nothing more behind it than art theft."

"I should have bought shares in Fast-Penta." Ivan frowned and returned to the point that was worrying him, "So what happens to her? She at least THOUGHT she was saving the emperor. And she didn't hurt any of us."

Miles snarled at the memory of being bound and gagged. "There's a little matter of several counts of treason."

"That could happen to anyone. Happened to you."

Miles wasn't getting any happier, he straightened up and snapped, "I didn't – " Then he froze as there was action at the target table. A flurry of movement ended with both men and one woman walking away. The only one left was their quarry.

Ivan nodded towards her, "Now?"

"Ohhhh yes." Miles whispered a few commands into his wrist-com, then both men stood up and sidled casually towards their target. Her back was partly towards them, they were shielded by trees and other customers, it was easy to get nice and close without tipping her off.

In that moment the family resemblance was very strong, both cousins wore exactly the same evil anticipatory grin.

Valya stretched and relaxed, taking a deep breath of fresh air. Well, as fresh as it got in the city. Life was back to normal. She'd had one stupid episode, but she'd got through it safely and now she could go back to being just herself again.

She finished her tea, reached forward to put the cup down and suddenly there were people in the chairs each side of her. "Did you forget something?" she turned to see what Sacha or Ivanka had come back for and was face to face with a coldly triumphant Imperial Auditor.

She had one moment of pure horror that coursed through her like an electric shock. A desperate glance to her other side met a large forest-green wall, decorated with gold braid and topped with a handsome, happy smile.

Without hesitation she kicked out, her flying foot impacting the hulk on her left in a place no Vor maiden should admit to knowing about, then twisting smoothly away to leap to her feet and hit the ground running, heading across the square to dodge between buildings and escape.

Well, that was the plan, anyway. Unfortunately her first move was blocked and then a strong arm snaked around her, gripping her arm in a hold she couldn't break. Before she realised what had happened she was on her feet, held tightly against an expanse of gold braid. One arm was useless, caught between her body and her captor's, the other was held in an iron grip. The auditor had also bounced to his feet and was giving her an evil grin.

"Well, hello again. So nice to see you in daylight."

She tried to kick her captor's ankles. She recognised the big one as Lord Ivan Vorpatril, looking somehow more dangerous now than he had the last time she saw him. He hissed as she kicked him and twisted her around a little to evade her feet, "Now that's not very polite. Do you want to walk out of here under your own power, or shall we call the Impsec guards and have you dragged out of here in shackles?" His voice was light, almost joking, but she could hear the steel underneath.

Lord Auditor Vorkosigan walked around her, looking at her from different angles, "Well, Ivan, I have to say you do know your stuff. We'll do a DNA scan to confirm, of course, but her reaction does seem to prove you right."

Belatedly she realised she'd miscalculated. She tried for an innocent reaction anyway, "What's going on? What do you think you're doing? What do you want with me?" Both men watched her innocent act in silence. She didn't have to pretend the panic in her voice, "Look, I think you've made some kind of mistake."

The auditor nodded towards a black lightflyer with silver, shielded windows that settled in a nearby corner of the square, "Well it can all be sorted out quickly. A few questions under fast-penta and we'll know if we have the right person, won't we. No problem."

She gave up on the innocent act. "But why? I haven't… I was HELPING you! I didn't hurt anyone!"

There were no smiles now, "You. Kidnapped. The. Emperor."

"I didn't mean to!" She wailed miserably, "I wanted an armsman! It was a mistake!"

"Oh yes, my dear. It certainly was."

All through the conversation she was being walked inexorably towards the lightflyer. Lord Ivan had her in a grip she couldn't break. The Lord Auditor had picked up her bag, portable comconsole and the pile of files from the table and trotted along beside them.

"Please, please don't do this." There was a note of panic now. "Please, it's only going to make things worse. I didn't mean to do anything wrong, I just wanted to warn him – my intentions were good. Truly. I just wanted to … to do the right thing."

"Breaking into the Residence and kidnapping the Emperor doesn't seem all that right to me. You could have just given the information to Impsec or the police."

They were at the flyer now. She planted her feet to stop progress, "I tried! They wouldn't listen to me."

"We checked. They got anonymous calls from some girl who wouldn't give a name or contact number. Naturally they didn't take it seriously."

She was lifted effortlessly and tossed into the lightflyer. Before she could jump out again the two men were in the flyer with her, one each side. There were two impassive Impsec agents watching from the front seat.

She reached desperately to try and escape, only to see the hatch snap shut. She turned to the auditor, "Please, this won't… I didn't mean to…"

"Why wouldn't you give your name? What is it, anyway? You may as well tell us now, we'll know in a few minutes anyway."

She blinked back tears of frustration, and fear. This was going horribly wrong, and was only going to get worse. "I didn't tell them who I was because… because it wouldn't have helped." Her voice was quiet now, dead and miserable, "Please let me go. This … isn't good."

"Definitely not. And it's going to get worse." The auditor seemed happy about that.

Lord Ivan was frowning, "Miles, she did mean well. You know how things can go wrong even when you mean well… are you sure this is a good idea…?"

"She MEANT to invade the Residence. Illegally. She MEANT to kidnap an armsman, she did even worse than that. She can make her case at the trial."

The girl shuddered and seemed to shrink.

Miles went back on the attack, "You didn't answer. Who are you? We'll need a name for the arrest records."

This was every nightmare she'd ever had. "I… I just wanted to try and put things right, a little… I was trying to help… I wanted to do something to make up for…"

"Name."

No point in fighting this, the fast-penta would take away all chance of avoiding the question. She sagged in the seat, seeing no way to escape now. "V-Valya."

"That's a pretty name." Lord Ivan smiled as if this was some social event.

The auditor glared at him then looked back at her, "Valya? Short for Valentina?"

She nodded.

"Valentina Vor-what?"

Chin up, eyes blank, hold onto dignity for as long as possible. That's all there was now. She looked calmly at the man who was going to be her executioner. One bad decision was going to end her, all her good intentions would mean nothing. She knew there was no chance for her now. They'd probably keep it quiet, publicity would only cause problems. Or would it be the main square and the very public penalty for treason? Maybe some people would be happy to see her end that way, it'd be some kind of karmic justice perhaps.

But no matter what, one word was going to end all her chances. She took a deep breath.

"Valentina… Vordarian."


End file.
